Improvement in railroad switches



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIGEc IMPROVEMENT IN RAILROAD SWITCHES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 139,827, dated June 10, 1873; application l'ed Aprll 11, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTOPHER C. SHELBY, of Spring Valley, in the county oi' Rockland and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Safety-Switch for Railways; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, in Which- Figure 1 is a plan view, showing the switch open; and Fig. 2 is a planwiew, showing the switch closed.

Similar letters of reference in the accompanying drawings denote the same parts.

This invention has for its object to prevent the derailment of railway trains by reason of open switches. To this end, it consists in a system ot' rails connected with the switchrails, and operating, when the switch is opened, to form a temporary filling of the gap, so that if a train approaches along the main line, in the opposite direction from that of the train which went oli' on the branch, such train will be conducted by said temporary lilling to the main track at the other end of the switclrrails.

In the accompanying drawing, B is the main track, one side of which is rigid at the switch. F is one of the switchrails, pivoted at f. Gr is the branch or siding. A is a short pointed rail connected with F by rods a. Hence, when the switch is opened, as shown in Fig. 1, the rail A swings into the place formerly occupied by F, and keeps the main track continuous, so far as a train approachi ing in the direction of the arrow is concerned. F is the other switchrail, pivoted at j', and having a point beveled at the side next the main rail. 'lhe rail F is connected with the railA by links d e and an intermediate rail, D. Hence, when the switch is opened the rail F is thrown with its beveled end against the side of the Ina-in rail. thus completing the connecton between the main and side tracks. The intermediate rail D serves as the support of the rail A. C is a guiderail, which serves to conduct the wheels from A to B. The thin end of F bends toward G sopas to allow the Wheels to pass between it and B, said end re,i turning to 4B by its own elasticity `on the passing of the wheels. `"When the track is closed, as shown in Fig. 2, inasmuch as the rail D is pivoted at d', its shorter-arm withl draws the beveled end of F from B, and thus confirms the integrity of the main track. The point of A is also beveled to allow the wheels to run along F without obstruction. `([h 

